The Final Fantasy franchise is anything but final, having had several versions on multiple consoles, most having nothing to do with each other but their names and a few common creatures. This latest edition takes place in the same world as Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles for the GameCube, but with a new story and characters.

In Ring of Fates, you take on the role of twins Yuri and Chelinka as they learn about the power of the crystals, the good and bad they can do. As you work through a series of levels, you battle various monsters in different settings, solving map-based puzzles and exploring a rich fantasy world. Different equipment options allow you to customize your character and increase abilities. The opening levels also serve as in-game tutorials, teaching you the various skills you'll need to play the game.

The Final Fantasy series is well-known for its beautiful graphics, and this game is no exception. It also follows the tradition of beautiful cutscenes, pushing the DS hardware to its limits, some lasting several minutes. Strangely, though, some cutscenes have convincing voices, while others, or even the same scene, switch to text only, like they ran out of room on the cartridge for the rest of the audio. If you've already played once or don't like cutscenes, the Start button will skip past them--just don't accidentally bump the button, or you'll miss it. The story, though, is compelling, but it may be a bit hard on the emotions of younger players, as at least one character goes to the grave during the cutscenes.

Combat is simple--just keep tapping "A" for the most part, but occasional jump attacks become necessary against flying creatures, and magic orbs called "Magicites" give additional abilities, including attacks, healing, and even raising fallen comrades, adding complexity and challenge. My 12-year-old found the difficulty level to be challenging enough to want to keep trying, and not so difficult that she wanted to give up. We wouldn't recommend it for much younger. I personally found it to be fairly easy, since healing opportunities show up regularly.

Even though you can heal often, save points are few and far between. Having to go back may result in replaying an entire level, which doesn't sound like much until you realize that these levels can require quite a bit of time to get through. I also accidentally drained my battery too far once, and when restarting, I had to back farther than my last save. I have no idea what happened there.

The cute little moogles from previous games reappear here, and they offer a unique game opportunity: Moogle Paint. With Moogle Paint, you get to make the Moogle look however you want, drawing the textures, modifying the facial characteristics, and changing colors until it fits your preference. This minigame was a great hit with my 12-year-old.

The game also features a multiplayer mode, allowing you to explore new territories with up to 4 friends, but it's multi-card play, so each player needs a cartridge.

While the game has little replay value in single player mode and no online play, the deep story and excellent gameplay will keep you coming back until you finish, and the number of levels will insure that won't happen soon. If you or your teen like role-playing games, you won't be disappointed.